EU decision coincides with report on sluggish justice system

(By Sandra Cordon)
(ANSA) - Rome, March 17 - European Justice Commissioner
Viviane Reding on Monday rejected ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's
bid to run in the May European Parliament elections at the top
of his Forza Italia (FI) party's candidate list.
Italy's centre-right opposition leader Berlusconi, who was
banned from running for office in Italy or Europe because of a
tax-fraud conviction late last year, has been appealing his
conviction to the European Court of Human Rights.

The ruling last year marked the first definitive conviction
for Berlusconi, 77, after more than 20 years of legal battles
against magistrates who he says are left-wing and biased against
him.

He has not accepted the tax conviction and has insisted he
intends to stand for election in the voting May 22-25 for the
European Parliament.

That won't be happening, warned Reding.

"I will not go into laws at the national level. But
European law is very clear on this," Reding said, driving home
the point that Berlusconi will not be eligible to stand for the
continent's vote.

Her remarks came at the same time that her department
within the European Commission released a report complaining
that Italy's much-criticized snail-paced justice system became
even slower in the period between 2010 and 2012.

It did find a few areas of improvement but warned that
overall, Italy has one of the slowest judicial systems in
Europe.
Critics complain that is partly due to reforms implemented
by previous Berlusconi governments, and Italian President
Giorgio Napolitano has said that the country's judiciary has too
often been "overwhelmed" by political disputes that have gone on
for "far too long".

Even with the "unequivocal respect" the judiciary is
entitled to according to the Italian Constitution, said
Napolitano, it has been too often "swept up in the spiral of
conflicts between politics and justice that has been raging for
too many years in Italy".

Streamlining and speeding processes in the judicial system,
a significant issue that has discouraged multinational firms
from investing in Italy, is one of the priorities of Premier
Matteo Renzi's government.

Renzi's ruling Democratic Party has insisted the former
premier cannot be considered above the law.

Meanwhile, Berlusconi's FI party insists he should be
entitled to stand in the European Parliament elections despite
his tax-fraud conviction.

Some supporters have even suggested the ban should be
lifted by Napolitano, although Berlusconi has ruled out asking
for a pardon because that would be an admission of guilt.
At the same time, Berlusconi remains ensnared in numerous
judicial actions.

Next month, Italian judges are set to rule on whether the
media magnate, whose four-year sentence was later commuted to
one year, should serve that under house arrest or doing
community service.
And in two separate cases, Berlusconi is appealing a
seven-year term for paying an underage prostitute for sex and a
one-year sentence for involvement in the publication of an
illegally obtained wiretap that hurt a left-wing rival.

The charismatic conservative leader is also on trial for
allegedly bribing a Senator to switch sides.

Most of Berlusconi's previous judicial cases have timed out
which is why his conviction last fall came as a surprise to
many.
It also illustrates the problem with Italy's very
slow-moving judicial system, highlighted in Monday's EC report.

While it took an average 500 days for civil and commercial
cases to reach a first-instance ruling in 2010, that rose to 600
days in 2012, the EC said in its "Justice Scorecard".

It concluded that Italy is one of the slowest countries in
the European Union in terms of the number of outstanding civil
and commercial court cases waiting for their day in court.

Based on 2012 figures, 5.5 cases were pending per hundred
Italians, down from 2010 figures of six outstanding cases per
hundred inhabitants, according to the EU assessment.
The average length of wait for judicial action on a case in
2012 was about 600 days - up from about 500 days in 2010, the
report said.
"Justice delayed is justice denied," said justice
commissioner Reding.

"The EU Justice Scoreboard is a key tool within the EU's
economic strategy, enabling more effective justice for citizens
and businesses," she added.

"A properly functioning, independent justice system is
essential to gaining the trust of citizens and investors, and
indispensable for mutual trust in the European area of justice".

In terms of perceived judicial independence, Italy ranked
20th of 28 states, but was sixth from the top on measurements of
ongoing training for workers in the justice system.